The Allstate Sugar Bowl, one of the premier college football bowl games in the country, took on title sponsorship of the championships held by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) beginning with the 2014-15 academic year. The partnership between two of the oldest and most prominent amateur athletic organizations in the state was announced at a May (2014) press conference in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

"The LHSAA is very excited to partner with the Allstate Sugar Bowl in our high school state championship event series for the next six years," said Kenny Henderson, LHSAA executive director. "We are sincerely appreciative of the bowl’s unprecedented contribution to our organization and thank them for their title sponsorship of LHSAA state championship events. In doing so, the Allstate Sugar Bowl will join the LHSAA in recognizing and supporting our student-athletes who participate in the highest level of high school sports throughout Louisiana."

"The Sugar Bowl Committee has always believed in and supported high school athletics in Louisiana, so we couldn’t be happier to partner with the LHSAA on this venture," said Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan. "The core mission and value sets of the two organizations align so neatly, that it’s just natural for us to work together. We look forward to supporting the development of young people in our state through athletic competition at the highest level."

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has been involved in the sponsorship of many LHSAA championship events in the past, including baseball, football, soccer, swimming and tennis. The Bowl sponsored the LHSAA Football Championships from 2000-2005.

In addition to high school events, the Allstate Sugar Bowl is involved in numerous amateur sporting events at the collegiate, AAU and youth levels. All of these activities serve the organization’s original mission of generating tourism for the region through athletics. To that end, Bowl events last year generated $250.48 million in economic impact for the region, and over the last decade have created over $2 billion in impact, producing nearly $170 million in direct tax revenue for New Orleans and Louisiana. With the new LHSAA arrangement, the Sugar Bowl Committee now sponsors or administers 42 annual events, all of which will play a role in driving economic benefit for the city and state.

The LHSAA was created in 1920 when a group of high school principals met in Baton Rouge to discuss ways to regulate and develop interscholastic high school sports. While the LHSAA is run by a full time staff, the association is comprised of the principals of the member schools. Those principals are the ones who create the rules and regulations that are then enforced by the LHSAA administration. The LHSAA has remained a voluntary organization that doesn’t receive government funding, but through member fees, sponsorships and event revenue, exists as the governing body of Louisiana high school sports.

Since inception, the LHSAA has grown to include approximately 389 schools, regulating approximately 82,000 student-athletes, 8,000 coaches and 5,000 officials each year. The classifications have grown as well, and the organization now has seven total classifications (5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A, B and C). Schools are reclassified every two years based on the total student enrollment in grades 9 through 12, as determined by the Louisiana State Department of Education, as of October 1 of the current school year.